Canada’s First Nations, Métis & Inuit Art

The Arctic Region

The Prairie Region

The Central Plateau of British Columbia Region

The Northwest Coast Region

The Southern Great Lakes Region

The Sub-Arctic Region

The Arctic RegionNecessarily self-sufficient because of their total isolation, people had managed to thrive in the Canadian Arctic for more than 5000 years before being 'discovered' by European adventurers.Their nomadic lifestyle dictated few possessions, other than those needed for survival, but the culture produced carvings of variable complexity that were manufactured from walrus ivory, bone, antler and very occasionally stone.

Some of the carvings were clearly made to be used, and some seem to have had a spiritual significance. But pendants or ornaments carved with complex geometric patterns, combs and tiny human figures would only have been made for pleasure.

From the 1500's the Inuit residents of the area began trading with whalers and explorers who were looking for the Northwest Passage to India. As a result Inuit artisans started carving ivory miniatures as trade goods. A century later church missionaries even pushed for the production of Christian imagery!

The nomadic lifestyle had collapsed by the 1940's and the Canadian Government looked for ideas that would provide a new income source for the Inuit hunters. By mid-century, James Houston, who wrote Eskimo Handicrafts, came up with the notion that the Inuit could be taught to make limited edition prints from images incised into slabs of soapstone. The government thought it was a great idea and funded artist cooperatives across the north. Contemporary Inuit art was born.

The Sub-Arctic RegionNative art from the Eastern Subarctic is probably the oldest in Canada. The majority of prehistoric and early contact rock art sites are located in this region of the Canadian shield.

The inhabitants - the Ojibwa, Cree, Algonquin, Ottawa, Montagnais, Naskapi, M'qMak and the Maliseet - lived a nomadic lifestyle based on hunting, fishing and the gathering of wild foods. All those cultures had somewhat similar spiritual beliefs and system of governance and their art reflected their environment.

The inhabitants - the Ojibwa, Cree, Algonquin, Ottawa, Montagnais, Naskapi, M'qMak and the Maliseet - lived a nomadic lifestyle based on hunting, fishing and the gathering of wild foods. All those cultures had somewhat similar spiritual beliefs and system of governance and their art reflected their environment.

They decorated their clothing with self styled beads made from bone and shells, coloured hide with plant based dyes, embellished their ceremonial headwear with feathers and fur and incised patterns into their birch bark baskets and canoes.

For those people living north of the large cities, that lifestyle continued well into the 20th century but fabric and manufactured beads were used instead.

The artisans had a well developed sense of color and design. Caribou and moose hide was embellished with porcupine quills, beads and commercial threads in geometric and floral patterns.

With the coming of the 20th century and the influence of colonization, paintings and pen and ink illustrations were created as a means of producing an income. Like the artic region co-ops were started, as well as tourist locations would set up stores which would specialise in the selling of “Traditional Indian” art and artifacts. *Keep in mind that paintings and pen and ink should be considered contemporary and not traditional because these mediums were not available pre-contact.

The Southern Great Lakes Region

The southern Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River valley and the boreal forest that extended south along the Atlantic seaboard and west to the headwaters of the Missouri River sourced the prehistoric Eastern Woodlands Indian art.

But even in prehistoric times this culture was influenced by what was happening further afield. The Iroquois for example had established trade routes with the highly complex and economically advanced Eastern Woodland cultures along the Mississippi. That culture had in turn been affected by Central American Mayan civilization. Technological innovations in the way of making pottery came to Canada through this trade route, for example.

From the beginning of the historic period it was this area that suffered the most rapid cultural changes. Unlike their nomadic neighbours to the north, a milder climate had allowed many tribes to practise subsistence farming which meant that people lived in relatively permanent villages. That meant that their political and social institutions were different from their northern cousins and artisans had more time to advance artistic techniques.

But by the 19th century many of the First Nations peoples living in this area had migrated both westward and eastward or were even settling into Reserves in the area.

Art came to have a new purpose. It was a source of income to people whose traditional means of livelihood had been destroyed. Baskets, beaded necklaces, model birch bark canoes and even feathered headbands were made to be sold to outsiders...tourists and collectors of "native arts and crafts".

The Prairie RegionHistoric prairie native art and culture, as it developed in the 19th century, was a combination of First Nations and mainstream cultures - the product of post-contact European influences such as the horse and the gun which provided increased mobility and effectiveness in the buffalo hunt.

Art produced by the Bloods, the Blackfoot and the Assiniboine was similar in technique, materials to that of the subarctic and eastern neighbours. But, most native art produced by people living on the prairies was two dimensional and painting on hides was the major genre.

The Blackfoot lavishly painted the tipis of important men with naturalistic and geometric motifs. Large tipis might have used up to forty hides. Dream images on rawhide shields might be said to be comparable to contemporary surrealistic paintings in visionary and aesthetic impact. Painted buffalo robes were another major art form.Personal belongings like deer hide moccasins, jackets, dresses, leggings and shirts were embellished with porcupine quill work and beads. Rawhide containers of various sizes, par fleches for example, were unique to the area and each had its own distinct design painted on.

The Central Plateau ofBritish Columbia

The Interior Salish ... the Lillooet, Thompson, Okanagan and Shuswap tribes ... lived in an area of Canada known nowadays as central British Columbia's plateau region.When easterly winds blow clouds from the Pacific they tend to bump into the mountains and drop their moisture before reaching the plateau. It's a dry climate, sparsely treed with many rocky outcroppings and in prehistoric times the residents created a large number of pictographs. on those same rocks.

The Lillooet, Thompson, Okanagan and Shuswap of the historic era made finely crafted and watertight baskets using a coiling technique and decorated them with geometric motifs.

The plateau peoples may have been the only First Nations group in Canada to have used textiles - they wove blankets from mountain goat hair - but next to nothing is known of their clothing or religious beliefs which would provide a context for an interpretation of their art.

The Northwest Coast Region

The tribes that live along the west coast of Canada from Vancouver to Alaska is a term applied to a style of art that is produced by members of the various tribes that live on the west coast of Canada from the Vancouver area north to Alaska.

This style of native art is distinguished by the use of form lines, and the use of characteristic oval, u and s shaped forms. The imagery evolves from nature to include bears, ravens, eagles, and humans or legendary creatures such as thunderbirds.

Before European contact the most common medium was wood but contemporary artists use paper, canvas, glass, and precious metals. If paint is made part of the product the most common colours are red and black, but yellow is also often used.

A Small sample of Artists Cyril Assiniboine

Cyril Assiniboine, Saulteux Ojibwa, was born on the Long Plains First Nation community near Portage La Prairie, Manitoba in 1958.

A self taught native artist, Cyril likes to illustrate the cultural traditions of his own people as well as the traditions of other native cultures.His style changes to fit his subject matter. For example he's been a pow wow dancer across Canada and the United States and when he's painting the actions of the dancers and rhythms of the drums he uses deep rich colours in a representational manner.

Deeply embedded in his early works are the symbols and legends of the plains Ojibwa interwoven with the prairie landscape. Tall grass, buffalo, wolves, horses and mythical faces saught an accommodation with modern Euro-American mainstream society...a statement about a First Nations culture seeking its rightful place within a larger culture.

Ray BaptisteRay Baptiste began sketching in the back of books as a child, and sold his first painting to a neighbour at age fifteen.

Art remained a hobby for the young artist until a young woman took the twenty-something Baptiste to meet her father, artist Eddy Cobiness.

Cobiness, who died in 1996, was one of the first Woodland artists and a member of the Indian Group of Seven. The older artist saw some of Baptiste’s sketches and encouraged him to work at his art and began a long and influential mentorship.

Ray Baptiste began experimenting with the Woodlands style, using swooping lines and dots to depict his subjects.

The three seasons he spent in the Yukon as a hunting guideinfluenced his work, but the real inspiration came from the time he spent with Cobiness around the Buffalo Point reserve. Aside from encouraging his talent, Cobiness also taught Baptiste the ropes of the business...including cold-calling corporate clients, selling paintings at mall shows, dabbling in graphic design, and doing anything possible to make a living through art.

Carl BeamOjibwa artist Carl Beam was born in M’Chigeeng on Manitoulin Island. He has exerted a strong influence on a whole generation of First Nations artists and has been instrumental in the development of the art of Canada’s First Nations.

He obtained a B.F.A. from the University of Victoria in 1974 and continued his studies in an M.F.A. program at the University of Alberta.His artwork, executed in diverse media such as drawing, watercolour, etching, non-silver photography, photo transfer, installation and ceramics. His work is generally characterized by the juxtaposition of autobiographical, commercial, photographic, and art historical references, evoking the dissonance between Euro-American and Native cultures.

In 2000, Carl Beam was inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts. Prior to his death in July 2005 he resided in M’Chigeeng.

Robert Jerome

Robert Jerome is a Metis artist from northern Saskatchewan who carves in both antler and stone.He enjoys fishing and other outdoor activities and says, "The land, the animals and the people that live here are my inspiration".Robert's father, Roger Jerome, is also an artist and encouraged his son to experiment in expressing himself with the tools at hand.

Norval Morriseau

Norval Morrisseau is the grandfather of native art in Canada.His vision of himself and his people created the possibility that native artists would have a major impact on the cultural revival of Ojibwa values. And he lead the parade of hundreds of young native artists into the conscious mind of the Canadian public.Born on the Sandy Point Reserve near Beardmore, Ontario, March 14, 1932

Morrisseau was raised by his maternal grandparents.Moses Nanakonagos (Potan) and his wife Vernique, lived on the Gull Bay shore of Lake Nipigon.This was a traditional arrangement. As the eldest of seven boys it was expected that he would be the link between his grandparents and his own generation. The tradition benefited both participants. The younger generation was schooled in the cultural conventions of the Anishnabe and the older generation benefited from the young muscles.Potan was a Midewinini and Jissakan - a shaking tent seer. Morrisseau learned stories, responsibilities and spiritual concepts from his grandfather but in his eighth year was taken away to a Catholic residential school in Fort William.

Daphne Odjig

Daphne Odjig, the grandmother of Canadian native art, painted long before there was such a thing as a contemporary native art movement on either side of the 49th parallel.

Daphne was born in 1919 of Ojibwa/English parents, on the Wikwemikong Reserve on Manitoulin Island. Her mother was an English war bride, her father could trace his ancestors through the Odawa/Potawatomi tribes.She had always shown an interest in art - encouraged first by her grandfather who was a stone carver - but for years her images were much influenced by an eclectic group of modern European painters.Unable to cope with the discrimination at the time, she'd moved to Toronto in 1942, ostensibly left her Indian roots and joined the mainstream world

In the 1960's, with the rise of the American Indian Movement and Norval Morrisseau's Toronto triumph, Indian pride was creeping into the Canadian culture like a breath of fresh air.It became easier to be an Indian and Daphne Odjig began focussing her imagery on the Ojibwa culture she'd left behind.

Member of the Indian Group of Seven

Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun

Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, of Coast Salish descent, graduated from the Emily Carr College of Art and Design in British Columbia. In combining his own experiences with a political perspective, he paints landscapes with vivid, acidic colours, merging Native iconography with a surrealist influence to address West Coast Native issues.

Yuxweluptun's political roots can be traced back to childhood. His father was founder of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs and Vice President of the North American Native Brotherhood. His mother was Executive Director of the Indian Homemakers Association of British Columbia. With his parents as role models, Yuxweluptun was involved in Native politicization, attending meetings, demonstrations, and mailing out copies of The Native Voice, the province's first Native newspaper.Yuxweluptun has chosen art as a way to voice his political concerns, exposing environmental destruction and the struggle of Native people. He believes that his artwork stimulates dialogue between Native and non-Native people.

Christi Belcourt

Christi Marlene Belcourt (born September 24, 1966) is a Métis visual artist and author living and working in Canada. She is best known for her acrylic paintings which depict floral patterns inspired by Métis and First Nations historical beadwork art. Belcourt is recognized within the Métis community as one of the preeminent Métis artists in Canada.

As a Métis visual artist with a deep respect for the traditions and knowledge of her people, the majority of her work explores and celebrates the beauty of the natural world.

Annie Pootoogook, Man on the Radio, 2006.Coloured pencil and black felt pen on wove paper, 50.9 x 66.1 cm. Image: National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa/Photo © NGC/© Dorset Fine Arts.

"Grandma" by Catherine Blackburn.Winner of the 2013 Aboriginal Writing and Arts Challenge in the senior art category. Image: Catherin Blackburn/Historica Canada.

Duane Linklater's piece Tautology, uses a neon thunderbird image appropriated from a famous painting by First Nations artist Norval Morrisseau.

“just for a moment, always” digital collage by contemporary Native artist by Jude Norris aka TatakwanImage 1 of 14

Rebecca Belmore Fringe , a life-sized photograph presented as a lightbox transparency,